Introduction

Abstract

On 11 September 2001, American individualism suffered an unprecedented blow as a result of an attack by terrorists, generally believed to have been of Arab origin and perhaps to have been motivated by so-called ‘Islamic fundamentalism’. The attackers seem in any case to have shared a group-dominated, essentially totalitarian mentality, which I shall call ‘groupism’. In that sense, the horrendous tragedy can be seen as a manifestation of the conflict between Western ‘individualism’ and Eastern ‘groupism’. This conflict has been manifested elsewhere in recent times, including within Russia. Earlier, in the bygone Soviet era, the conflict was present in the reactions to the nuclear accident at Chernobyl in 1986, where some of the authorities at first attempted to ‘close ranks’ and conceal the truth concerning the occurrence and extent of tragic casualties among individuals in the affected population. Radiation-burned bodies were buried in heavily sealed concrete coffins, which their families and friends were never allowed to see; they were informed that the state would keep their bodies as heroic victims. There is no respect for truth in such a system, where individuals were sacrificed in the strategic interest of the ‘group’ of the state and nation.